


Together Again

by LavedaVida



Series: Mélange [1]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, talk of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-01-06 19:54:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1110878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LavedaVida/pseuds/LavedaVida
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eponine's panic attacks have been getting worse, and Grantaire is getting worried. After some arguing, he convinces her to attend an abuse survivor's meeting. She attends, and gets a bit of a surprise upon discovering who runs it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Together Again

"I don’t need to go to some abuse survivors meeting, R," Eponine said, glowering at her best friend. She was curled up on her bed, surreptitiously wiping tears away from her eyes.

"Eponine, that was your third panic attack this week," R said, gently. His usual cynicism had fallen away, and he rubbed her back. "I don’t know what else to do for you. Everyone will be extremely understanding, there. Nobody will blame you for what has happened to you."

Eponine laughed, dully. “I’m not… I’m not broken, R. I don’t need to go to some dumb meeting.” 

R’s face hardened. “Eponine—”

"I’m not!"

"I never said you were!" R burst out. "I go to these meetings, ‘Ponine. You’re not any more broken than I am, or the girl who runs them, or the boy who sits next to me. We’re all there because we’ve been abused, and we want somewhere to talk freely. We often don’t even end up talking about what has happened to us— we talk about our lives, or whatever.”

Eponine froze. “I thought you just saw the flyer— I didn’t know. I’m sorry,” she murmured. This was news to her, for she had known R for years, yet had hardly heard about his past.

"It uh. It was a long time ago. But also the reason I ended up on the streets, with you."

They had decided to come to uni together, Eponine and Grantaire. After being on the streets for two years, ever since Eponine had left home at sixteen, they had miraculously managed to get into uni on scholarships and test scores and portfolios alone. Neither was entirely sure how they had done it.

"So you really think I should go?" Eponine asked, finally.

"I’ve had considerably fewer panic attacks, since I started," R said, with a shrug. "I’m not making you do anything. I could never make you do anything, of course, but— I’m not going to push you." He smiled, crookedly at her, and laced his fingers through hers. "But… could you at least think about it? For me? And for you. It is, of course, ultimately about you."

"I’ll think about it."

~~~~

"This is the place," said R, gesturing at a closed lounge door in the basement of the dining hall.

Eponine nodded, her lips pursed. “Let’s do this,” she said, and pushed open the door.

The room was full with about a dozen students. A curly-haired blonde boy was talking to a blonde girl who almost looked like she could be his sister. A slim boy with his hair in a braid stood chatting with a short, curly-haired boy in one corner, and a girl with long waves of dark hair stood between a pair of men, laughing at what they were saying.

The blonde girl looked up at the sound of the door opening. “R! Is this the friend you said you would bring?”

R nodded, and glanced over at Eponine. But when his eyes fell upon her, he realized that she had paled, and was frozen in place. 

The girl approached them. “Hi,” she said to Eponine. “I get it if you’re nervous. But we’re really all pretty cool around here. I’m Cosette.”

Eponine turned and looked at R, shaking her head.She wasn’t even able to speak, her eyes wide and horrified.

Cosette glanced at her. “You uh— you look familiar. Do we know each other from somewhere?”

Eponine grasped R’s arm, her fingernails digging into his skin. “Hey! Hey, Eponine, watch it!” R muttered. “I get that you’re nervous, but—”

Cosette, too, was suddenly looking as though she had seen a ghost. “You didn’t? Um, you didn’t say Eponine, did you?”

"Yes?" said R, glancing between the two girls. "Do you two know each other?"

Cosette covered her mouth with her hand. “I— um. Yeah.”

The entire room was now watching the two girls, and R, caught in the middle. Finally, the curly-haired blonde boy strode over. “R? How about you go and talk with Bahorel, he said he had a story to tell you. Cosette, and um, Eponine, was it? How would you guys like to go and sit out in the hall and try and talk it out, without everyone here? Unless— are you going to leave, Eponine?”

Eponine shook her head. “I um. I think I’d like to talk to Cosette,” she said, glancing at the other girl. Cosette nodded, and they exited the room.

~~~~

They sat in silence, in the hallway. Cosette was perched awkwardly in a windowsill, while Eponine had simply sunk to the ground against one wall, staring distantly in front of her.

"It’s been a long time," Cosette said, finally. "And I’m sorry about that. I wanted to stay in contact, but papa wouldn’t let me contact anyone from your family."

Eponine just nodded. “Did he adopt you? Valjean, I mean?”

Cosette nodded. “He did. I begged him to go back and take you, but… he said there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t pull you out.” They sat in silence again. Eponine refused to meet Cosette’s eyes. “Did— did it continue? The abuse, I mean?” Cosette asked, suddenly. Her voice quivered and she couldn’t seem to look at Eponine.

"Until I was sixteen and left for good, yeah," Eponine said, gruffly. "I took Gav and Azelma to a kid’s shelter, but they said I was too old to stay. That they couldn’t do anything for me."

Tears were dripping down Cosette’s cheeks. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t want this for you. I’m so sorry,” she whispered. She stood. “Do you— um, do you mind asking me why you started coming to our meetings?”

Eponine let out a dull laugh. “I found out that Azelma joined a gang. She got pretty roughed up, showed up at my doorstep a week ago, blood everywhere. Seeing her like that— well, it was a flashback to our childhood. And nobody wants to see their baby sister like that, even if she wasn’t the best person all the time. And so for the past week I’ve been having these panic attacks— R only knows about a few, but I’ve had more, when I didn’t bother to call him. So he finally told me to come to these meetings, and God, I didn’t know you would be here. I didn’t even know you went here.”

Cosette slid off the windowsill and approached Eponine. She settled on the ground next to her. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “I’m sorry about… everything. But I’m especially sorry that we didn’t come back for you guys.”

Eponine shrugged. “There’s nothing I can do about it now. I just… keep on going. That’s all I can ever do, isn’t it?”

Cosette looked at her, sadly. “You can do so much more, Eponine. You can thrive.”

"Coming from the girl who only spent five years in that house. I spent sixteen."

"I still wake up in the middle of the night screaming," Cosette said, after being silent for a few minutes. "Screaming all those screams I felt I couldn’t scream while in that house. It was— those were the worst five years of my life, Eponine, and you shouldn’t discredit them. I mean, I know that you spent sixteen years there, and in comparison I only spent two years, but… I couldn’t sleep in my own room for months, I had to sleep in a little trundle bed at the foot of Valjean’s bed. I was so afraid that they would come back for me."

Eponine bit her lip. “I thought they were going to charge me with kidnapping, when I left with my siblings. They were so dead-drunk when it happened, though, I doubt they realized for days. By then, Gav and Azelma were safe, and I was on the streets. I don’t think they even bothered to look for us.”

Silence stretched across the hallway for several minutes, until Cosette finally stood up, and offered Eponine her hand to pull her up. “We should go back in.”

"I guess so," Eponine said. 

"You’ll keep coming to meetings?" Cosette asked, hopefully. "The people are all great. I’m only a co-runner, actually, the program was started by Enjolras— you know, the curly haired blonde boy?"

Eponine nodded. “I suppose you’ll make me come, won’t you?”

"I’d like if you would," Cosette said. "I want to be able to help you, Eponine."

Eponine looked at where she still held Cosette’s hand. “I never thought I’d see you again,” she said, suddenly.

"I prayed I would get to see you again," Cosette, said, simply, and she pushed open the door to the lounge.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Tumblr](http://www.the-strangest-sea.tumblr.com)


End file.
